The New Starts Working Group led by Reconnecting America Board Member Jeff Boothe of Holland and Knight has put together a nifty chart showing the share of riders that take transit to sporting events in some major cities. While not all cities and transit agencies are represented, it's a nifty snapshot of how transit is an important part of a multi-modal strategy for getting people to the game. Not surprising to anyone who has been to a Timbers game and seen the madness, Jeld-Wen Field in the heart of downtown Portland boasts a 40% mode share. I'm sure the folks in Seattle will be looking for ways to better that next season.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced the recipients of the third round of TIGER grants. USDOT is awarding a total of $511 million to 46 innovative transportation projects in 33 states and Puerto Rico. The program was heavily oversubscribed, with only about 5% of the 848 applicants receiving awards. The total amount requested from all applicants was $14.29 billion. While road projects make up approximately half of the awards, a quarter of these ($64 million worth) are complete streets projects aimed at making the roads more accommodating to pedestrians, bicyclists, and other users. Transit projects constitude 29% of the awards, following by port (21%) and freight rail (10%) investments. Altogether, TIGER grants will fund ten different transportation modes. Communities large and small received awards. Thirty percent of the $511 million will go to projects in twenty rural communities.

There's been a lot of discussion recently on the issue of streetcars, light rail, and dedicated guideways. Some focus heavily on the development side of building streetcars while many others have discussed the accessibility and service side, mentioning that a streetcar stuck in traffic is no better than any other transit mode. While this discussion lives on in the United States, Europe has been quietly resurecting tram lines dedicated to getting people around the regions they support. While many of the Eastern Block countries kept thier tramways, western nations such as France ripped many of them out after the war.

If you subscribe to both the Half-Mile Circles blog and our Other Side of the Tracks news feeds you may have noticed that the Other Side of the Tracks hasn't updated since Nov. 15, shortly after we changed how we post the Tracks newsletter content. Apparently, Feedburner, the service we run our feeds through, can't handle the length of the articles.

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The Half-Mile Circles blog is a place to share information about recent research, innovations and other issues related to TOD and livable communities. We also invite experts to talk about their work. Combined with Jeff Wood's The Other Side of the Tracks, the Half-Mile Circles blog is an opportunity for a daily dose of TOD, and allows you to weigh in with your own opinions. Usual blog rules apply; please keep the comment threads civil. To submit an expert article, contact Jeff Wood